Top Donors to Walker’s Presidential Fundraising Committees

August 4, 2015

More than seven dozen individuals and corporations made contributions of $50,000 or more to two federal committees that were created to support Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s 2016 presidential bid, a Wisconsin Democracy Campaign review found.

The two committees, Unintimidated PAC, which is a Washington, D.C.-based super PAC, and Our American Revival, which is an Iowa-based 527 group, allow Walker and his supporters to raise unlimited amounts of money from any source. The committees reported late last week that they raised more than $26 million during the first six months of 2015.

Four of these wealthy contributors made contributions to Unintimidated PAC (Table 1) and Our American Revival (Table 2) of $1 million or more between January and June. Here’s a little about them and how much they gave:

Diane Hendricks, Afton, Wis., $5 million. Hendricks is the chairman of Hendricks Holding Co., which owns ABC Supply, the nation’s largest wholesale roofing supply company started by Diane and her late husband, Ken. Hendricks is the second-richest woman in America, with a net worth estimated at $3.5 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. Hendricks is a longtime, generous contributor to Republican candidates and committees. She has contributed about $530,000 to Walker’s three campaigns for governor in 2010, 2012 and 2014;

Joe and Marlene Ricketts, Jackson Hole, Wyo., $5 million. Joe Ricketts founded the online stock trading and investing service T.D. Ameritrade and also owns the Chicago Cubs. The couple are generous supporters of state and federal Republican candidates through a super PAC called Ending Spending Action Fund founded by Joe Ricketts, who is worth about $1.7 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. The Ricketts also contributed $115,000 directly to Walker’s 2012 and 2014 campaigns for governor;

Access Industries, New York, N.Y., $1 million. Access Industries is a holding company created in 1986 by Leonard Blavatnik that owns numerous chemical, media, and real estate companies around the world. Blavatnik is a longtime individual contributor to Democratic and Republican candidates for federal offices. Blavatnik has made no direct contributions to Walker’s federal committees or his campaigns for governor, but he did contribute $5,000 in May 2014 to Walker’s reelection opponent, Democrat Mary Burke. In addition to the $1 million contribution to Unintimidated PAC, the company also contributed $250,000 to Our American Revival.

Two other contributions to the committees to note were $150,000 by HF Securities LLC, of Brookfield, to Unintimidated PAC, and a $100,000 contribution by Robert Rasmus, the head of a Texas frac sand mining company, to Our American Revival.

HF Securities is registered to the son of Jon Hammes, who is an investor in the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team. HF Securities made its $150,000 donation to Unintimidated PAC on May 27, a day before Walker announced his support for a plan to provide $250 million in taxpayer dollars to finance a new arena sought by the Bucks owners.

Rasmus’s $100,000 contribution last February to Our American Revival along with two $100,000 contributions he made last September and October to the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Houston-based Hi-Crush Proppants is one of the leading frac-sand mining companies in Wisconsin.